Wireless Router Setup
How to Connect a Wireless Router to the Internet

The wireless side of the wireless router is in fact the home network.

There are two aspects to the setup:

• Connecting the Wireless Router to the Internet.
• Wireless Router client setup
   

Connecting the Router/HUB to The Phone Line

The router will have a port labelled DSL this connects via a microfilter to your phone line. Always remember to use the microfilter as without it it may not work or may only work intermittently.

Connecting Setup Computer to the Router/Hub

Most installations today are done by simply running a setup CD which will instruct you what to do. It usually involves connecting your setup PC to the router/hub using the appropriate connection and entering details provided in your setup package.

Generally you will need to connect a Computer into the router using a UTP cable, Ethernet cable (provided normally with the router ),or wireless connection  in order to set it up.

Because this varies according to the ISP/Router manufacturer I will not go into the details but instead I will take you through some settings that you may be required to set during setup that are important

Encryption

Wireless networks are insecure and if you live in a densely populated area you may find that you can see and access the wireless networks of your neighbours and vice versa.

Because of this you should encrypt your wireless connections. However I recommend that you setup the router to use unencrypted connections to start and once you are happy that your network is functioning ok then change the router and clients to use encrypted connections.

Network Addressing

In order for the router and computers to talk they must both be allocated IP addresses. The IP address for your router will be with the router documentation, the table below is for Illustration only.

The Router should be set to act as a DHCP server and so that it can automatically assign IP addresses to the client computers.

Note: Some set-ups require that you manually assign an IP address to the setup computer so that you can connect it to the router to do the setup in the first place.

If you do that assign it an address in the correct range i.e. if your router address is 192.168.0.1 then assign the setup computer an address of 192.168.0.199.

 If you manually assign the address you will need to set it back to auto assign once setup is complete and the computer is being used on the home network (wireless or wired).

Logging in to the Router.

This may be required to do the initial setup but it is usually done post setup to make configuration changes.

Almost all routers can be configured using a web browser (Internet Explorer). Once the computer and router are physically connected open IE and type in the IP address of the router in the address bar (see above table for examples) .

Hit return and the router opening page will appear.

Depending on the router you may be taken to direct to a logon screen or this may come when you try to configure the router. In any case when you are prompted to logon enter the logon username and password for the router.

You should note that this is allowing you to connect to the router and not the ISP. Now depending on your Internet connection you may need to enter a username and password for the ISP( see later)

Configure Router ISP Connection

When you sign up for a broadband account your provider will send you connection details, and usually a setup disk. If you are using router hardware not supplied by your ISP then use the router manufacturers setup guide. Most of the time the Router can detect the connections type and will configure itself.

All of the home network connections I have come across use PPPoe ( PPP over Ethernet). There is no need to worry about what it means but the result is that you will need to provide a user name and password in order for the router to connect to the ISP.

This user name and password is supplied in you ISP setup details.

A consequence of this is if you are asked to choose between connection types- usually PPPoe, Dynamic or shared then if your ISP provided a username/password with the setup details then the connection type is always PPPoe.

Note: A common problem is that people confuse the two username/password combinations:

One allows you to connect to the router (supplied by the router manufacturer) and the other allows the router to connect to the ISP (supplied by the ISP).

Once the configuration is complete you may be requested to restart the router.

Wireless Router Client Setup

With the setup computer still connected to the Ethernet port of the router connect to the router admin page by typing in the required address and enter the router login name and password and then select wireless configuration.

There are in general only two things you will need to configure:

• SSID- The network name. All router use a default name which for security purposes should be changed. The name is case sensitive and should be short and descriptive. This name will also be used when configuring the clients.
• Encryption type and shared key- Two choices are WEP and WPA-PSK. WPA-PSK is the newer and more secure encryption method but not universally supported. My recommendation is not to use any encryption initially and once it is working without encryption then to enable it on the router and then on the clients.
  If you do use it you need to enter a shared key (password) this will also be used when configuring the client machines.

All other settings should be left to the defaults. You can always change them later. Once complete you now need to configure your wireless clients.

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